Sunny laughed loudly, and Mantheria chuckled until she could no longer breathe, and her eyes began to water.Her new husband’s face was quite red from all his mirth, and the tension in the room seemed to dissipate.
“I’m afraid that I forgot to pack any books for our wedding trip.”
Mantheria dabbed at her wet eyes with her napkin.“Oh dear.”
“Oh my dearest, we don’t have to be intimate on our wedding night, but I should very much like to hold you, if that is agreeable.If it is not, I shall content myself with looking upon your lovely face.”
Being in his arms did sound rather nice and not at all terrifying.“Do you mind if I change into my nightgown first?”
“Not at all,” Sunny said and took a sip of his wine.“Shall I call for your lady’s maid?”
Mantheria had forgotten all about her.
No, she did not wish to see any other face this day but Sunny’s.She shook her head and got to her feet.“I’ll go and get comfortable.”
“And I shall do the same.”
Mantheria walked slowly to the door of her bedchamber and closed it rather loudly behind her, causing herself to jump.She took a deep breath and pulled the pins out of her hair, letting the curls fall loosely down her back.Then she carefully removed her wedding dress, stays, and even her chemisette.She laid them out on the bed and noticed that there was a mirror in her room.Mantheria wasn’t in the habit of looking at herself unclothed.It would be unseemly!But she couldn’t help but notice how much her body had changed in the last twelve years.Her breasts and hips were fuller.Her arms and legs had become more defined from all her exercise with Andrew.There were birthing lines on her belly and scars on her legs from her adventures.She was not the same scared seventeen-year-old girl that she had been on her wedding night.She was a woman with a powerful and beautiful body.Mantheria had nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of.
With one last glance at her reflection, Mantheria turned to find her trunk, only to realize that the servants had not brought it up yet.It was barely past five o’clock in the evening, and perhaps her maid and Sunny’s valet had waited to be called before entering the bridal suite.She went to the bed and picked up the chemise to put it back on, but then decided that she didn’t need it.
Or want it.
Taking a breath like she was about to go to battle, Mantheria opened the door of her bedchamber that led back to the private parlor.Sunny was standing by the fire in his shirtsleeves and stocking-clad feet, but otherwise fully clothed.For a moment, her courage failed her until she saw the expression on Sunny’s face: sheer wonderment.His eyebrows were raised, his eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open as if unable to speak.
Slowly, she walked toward him with her head up and her long hair tickling her bare back.She did not falter, nor did she slow down her pace until she reached his side.His eyes never once left hers.Her sexuality wasn’t something to hide from or be ashamed of, but feelings to embrace and to share with the man she loved.She took his hand in hers and led him to her bedroom, where they performed the marriage act.
It felt natural, beautiful, and completely indescribable.
Afterward, she rubbed her face against his bare chest.He made a hissing sound of pleasure that made her giggle.His hand moved gently through her hair.
Mantheria tilted her chin and whispered, “Veni, vidi, vici.I came, I saw, I conquered.”
She felt his laughter rumble in his chest before his hot breath caressed her ear.“So you did, my love.So you did.”
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
“Everyone out of the room,” the Duchess of Hampford said in a commanding voice that brooked no argument, even from the strong-willed Stringham women.
Sunny watched as his wife’s sisters and sisters-in-law left the mistress’s room of Sunderland House.His mother-in-law handed a baby girl to his wife in a newly wrapped blanket.Then she took the second baby from the midwife and gave her to him.Sunny’s arms tightened around the most precious bundle that he had ever held in his entire life.Without another word, Lady Hampford ushered the midwife to the door and closed it behind them.He was finally alone with his wife and twin daughters in a bright and beautiful room.His children would not grow up in darkness like he did.
Carefully cradling his baby girl, Sunny moved closer to the large four-poster bed where his wife—his life—lay.Mantheria’s glorious golden hair was rather a mess, and her lovely face was quite pale and a little sweaty.Sunny was certain that he’d never loved her more than in this moment.He sat gently on the edge of the bed and held the precious daughter in his arms next to her sister.They were both wrinkly and red-faced with a fuzz of downy almost-white hair on their odd-shaped heads.
Mantheria smiled at him, and it still made his blood sing.“I am so happy.I must have beenverygood.”
His core warmed, and his lips twitched.She’d remembered his advice that to be good meant to be happy.He glanced down at his daughters.“They’re so beautiful.Do you think that they are identical twins like you and Elizabeth?”
His wife shook her head against the pillow.“I suppose we won’t truly know for a few months yet, but they certainly look very alike now.We’ll have to tie a ribbon on one of their ankles so that we can tell them apart.That’s what Mama did.”
Sunny and Mantheria had already discussed names as they eagerly waited for the births.The Duke of Hampford had informed them when Mantheria was only three months along that she was carrying twins.He had a gift for knowing such things.The midwife hadn’t been able to confirm the second child until almost seven months.As a couple, they decided to let Andrew pick one of the names, and they picked the other.For a boy, Andrew wanted Jason of the Argonauts.And for a girl, Camilla, Queen of the Amazons.He was still very interested in the classics, and it wouldn’t surprise Sunny if his stepson majored in them at university one day.“Which one is Camilla, and which one is Elizabeth?”
Mantheria’s late twin sister would always be remembered in their family.His wife bent over and kissed the forehead of the babe she was holding, and then to the daughter that he was.“Oh, I don’t know.”
Opening his mouth, Sunny was about to give his opinion when the fifth member of the family burst through the door.“I want to see my sisters!”
His wife grinned as her son ran to the large bed where the rest of his family sat.“Darling, we were just deciding what name to give each twin.”